The Bowel Cancer Research Unit was established in 1982 by Professor Heald, and in 1995 Mr. Brendan Moran was appointed as the second consultant surgeon with a special interest in colorectal cancer. In 2001 Mr. Darren Gold, whose main interest is surgery for inflammatory bowel disease, became the third consultant colorectal surgeon, and in May 2002 Mr. Tom Cecil will take up his appointment as the fourth consultant colorectal surgeon. There is increasing evidence in the medical literature throughout the world that colorectal

cancer is the most technique dependent of all the major malignancies. There is more difference in outcome in terms of cure, the number of permanent colostomies necessary, and in various other disabilities including impaired sexual function, than in any other cancer. The technique of total mesorectal excision (TME) for rectal cancer was developed by Professor Bill Heald in the early 1980s, and Basingstoke became the natural teaching centre for this precise surgical technique. The first Basingstoke Rectal Cancer Symposium was

held in 1996 and is now an annual event, held during the last week of September.

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The programme for the 13th Annual Rectal Cancer Symposium to be held in October 2008 will be available in April 2008 from: Rosemary.Sexton@bnhft.nhs.uk